Complete Nothing (True Love #2)(59)

“Psychotic break,” I confirmed.

Yards away, Orion and Darla got into some sleek red car and sped off. I imagined the two of them ensconced inside the cocoon of the car’s cabin, music blaring, fingers entwined as he drove with one hand. She had him all to herself. My love. She was able to touch him whenever she felt like it. To kiss him, hold him, listen to his voice. If anyone was going to be dying of envy around here, it was me.

How could I have been so wrong about what he was feeling, what he was thinking? How could both Hephaestus and I have been so wrong?

“I’m sorry, True,” Hephaestus said. “I really thought that he—”

Suddenly he flinched. His gaze shifted, and he stared past me so abruptly that I turned around, the tiny hairs on my neck standing on end.

“What?” I asked, scanning the blue sky, the green trees, the rooftops of the houses on the street below. Apollo and Artemis. Were they here? “What is it?”

“Nothing.” He turned his chair and headed for the parking lot. “I have to get home.”

“Since when?” I asked, throwing my palms up. “I thought we were going to the diner.”

“I’ll drop you there if you want,” Hephaestus called over his shoulder, pausing to let a herd of students traipse by.

And then it hit me like a meteor to the cranium. I knew that look—the wide eyes, the frozen features—as if he’d been shocked with a couple hundred volts of electricity.

Similar to the way it felt when my mother used to summon me back to Mount Olympus from Earth at the end of my Valentine’s Day sojourns each year. Was that what he was doing? Was he running off to be alone so that some upper god or goddess could whirl him back to the Mount? Was that who he’d been talking to in his room the other night? And if so, who the hell was it? Who was he plotting with?

The herd finally cleared the sidewalk and Hephaestus forged ahead, crossing the driveway for the parking area beyond.

“I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me why!” I shouted after him.

His response was to yank open the door of the van with a loud creak. “I’m leaving in five minutes whether you guys are in the van or not!” he shouted, lowering the lift.

“Come on,” Wallace said, loping past me toward the van. “I’ll buy you some pie.”

Pity pie. That was what he was thinking. He thought I liked him, and he needed to buy me pity pie. Could this day get any worse?

I sighed and followed after them. I didn’t want to let Hephaestus out of my sight. If he was whirling out, I wanted to catch him in the act. But it couldn’t be now, when he knew my interest was piqued. Right now he was going to be extra careful. No. It would have to be at a moment when he wouldn’t expect me to be watching.

I was going to have to bide my time.





CHAPTER FORTY


Peter


“I want to try the key lime cupcake,” Michelle said as I opened the door to Goddess Cupcakes for her on Sunday afternoon. “And the salted caramel. Oh! And the gingerbread.”

“But you hate gingerbread cookies,” I said through a yawn. Every muscle in my body ached, and I felt like I was about to pass out. It had been a long night and an even longer day. I’d been daydreaming about my pillow for a solid couple of hours.

Half out of it, I glanced around the shop to see if anyone from school was there. A couple of sophomore friends of Josie’s waved, and I nodded back. I felt hot around my collar suddenly, wondering if they knew what Josie and I had gotten up to after we’d dropped them off last night. Even I wasn’t entirely sure. The whole thing was a messy, headachy blur.

I knew I’d seen a lot of skin. That I could remember. And I knew that I’d woken up at five a.m. on her basement couch, alone, and had to blearily find my way home before my mom and my sister woke up. Not my finest moment. When I’d trudged into church that morning, I honestly thought I might get zapped by a bolt of lightning.

“Well, maybe I’ll like it in a cupcake,” Michelle replied, bouncing on her toes. There really wasn’t much that got her more excited than a potential sugar high. “Besides, it’s free.”

“Can’t argue with that logic,” I said sarcastically, checking my phone for the millionth time and wondering if this was a scam. I’d gotten a text this morning telling me to come in before five o’clock to claim my free half-dozen cupcakes. Normally I would have ignored it, but after mowing the lawn, weeding the garden and front walk, and hanging the garage door back on its hinges, I figured I deserved a cupcake. Or ten. Sometimes I really hated being the man of the family. And I still had to finish that damn TCNJ application tonight.

I squirmed just thinking about what an idiot I’d been yesterday. Walking out of that locker room to find Claudia, sure she was going to take me back so we could start planning next year for real. And then, Traylor. Traylor plastered to my girlfriend.

At least the yard work had been good for working out my aggression. Plus, it had given me time to think. And I had decided that I was 100 percent over her. She could do whatever the hell she wanted with that douche. Really. I was done.

“You never know!” Michelle replied. “Oh! What about the peanut butter and jelly?”

I shook my head, which felt a lot heavier than usual, like it could break off my neck at any moment.